Tribute to those that have served

Originally Posted by twa2471

You're a sick individual 4th,,Too funny!!!! Smart Ass!

Oh my God twa. Two Nam Marines here talking, we open the beers.. That's it.. Now I love my Marine Bros, God Bless them..
But their same company, Hue, I Corps, Tet.. Holy sheeeet.. Nobody but us around, no civies women or children..
Oh my God, more beer, more stories.. When they got to single highhandedly crawling to Hanoi and choking Ho Chi, I started crying.. They bought me beer, so I cried more, made the Gunny look like a Girl Scout. I love my Marines. Army Doggie, will cry for beer.

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"Man needs but two things to survive alone in the woods. A blow up female doll and his trusty old AK-47" - Thomas Jefferson 1781

Tribute to those that have served

I got in country at the start of the Laum Saun operation myself about 10 months later,4th, and got shot at before I even got assigned!!! YIKES,,,not a good 2nd day in country!!! A pretty "warm welcome" if I do say so myself! It was pretty hot there the last 3-4 years, with the worst fighting going on after the start of Tet from what I've read about Nam.

My bud Boots very much reminded me of the 60 gunner in the link you posted 4th, damn glad he was on our side !!!! And ,,by mine! We both got a bronze star from helping each other out of a hot LZ in our second tour after we both got hit at the same time. But I didn't stop us from keeping up a good field of fire and he didn't stop feeding me ammo, both wounded and we still kicked ass as a team that day,,,and we both got over 20 confirmed just that day alone even after getting hit,,crazy shit ,,,

Gawd we was tough when we waz dumb ass kids!!! Or just Gung Ho,,,not sure which!!! Not for sure but I'd heard he'd passed on a few years back, only 2 of us left from the original squad now, me and Buzzy I think. And Buzzy is pretty bad off with cancer.

Me,,well,,,Ya'll know!! Just Goofy and Decrepit !!

My AO looks about the same today too 1biggun, maybe a bit more ice, we got about 1/2"on everything right now on top of a foot of snow with more freezing stuff on the way tonight,with some ice fog right now making it real snotty out there. Why to Hell ya think I've been jawing here all day?? Did some projects, cleaned up a branches a bit, fussed with some guns, a couple toddy's and that's just about it for today, I'm not going to far at all today, just hanging tight. I'll finish up shopping later when it clears up some.

Hope my pop up blind didn't get fucked up, I haven't retrieved that one yet, it's way up on the side of a mountain about 4 miles in right now , it could be a while by the looks. I'll have to borrow my buds snow machine to get that one now by the looks. Not sure just how much snow they got up there or if the wheeler will even make it through right now. The rest are back and put away already. Our damn seasons are just to damn short here, 3 weeks for rifle and muzzle loader combined is just not enough days for me. I want to hunt!!!! I also lost 5 days out of that time just doing ice fishing stuff besides,,Gerrrrr! Short season, for sure,,,,and it's what I live for, hunting.

We both got a bronze star from helping each other out of a hot LZ in our second tour after we both got hit at the same time. But I didn't stop us from keeping up a field of fire and he didn't stop feeding me ammo, both wounded and we still kicked ass as a team,,,

I Got lots of stories after almost 2 tours, actually 1 1/2, our unit actually stood down and I left a bit earlier than my full 2nd tour ended. My AO was in the A-Shaw Valley,specifically Camp Eagle, and surrounding fire bases, was a pretty hot area most of the time. That's where Hamburg Hill was and our squad did 3 air assaults on it while I was there. Dumb bastards kept deserting it after we'd take it back,,,,WTF????? Why not just hold it? I'm just glad I was in the Air Cav. , so I didn't have to fight my way up, we just attacked by air, but that could get hairry too,and defiantly not a walk in the park either.

Hue,, that was referenced in the link 4th posted from the Full Metal Jacket movie was just 2-3 clicks from us @ Camp Eagle and where the Marine artty guys were and where I used to haul ammo to and from by truck and by air to the fire bases once I got out of the field. Pulled door gunner duty when delivering by chopper and drove truck the rest of the time doing the same. That only lasted about 4 months before I shipped out, the rest was in a recon/air assault team from a slick, 2/17th Air Cav 101st.

There's a sight on the computer that was started by a bunch of our guys with tons of pictures on there of our unit if anyone wants to take a peek. It shows us on Hamburg Hill from a pic I took when we were dusting off after an air assault there, and one other that I'd put up before with me in it with the squad carting the 60 just before a mission, and a bunch of others from other guys I served with showing all kinds of other stuff we'd captured. Lots of pics of shit we captured like, 20mm 's anti aircraft guns, AK's ,SKS's, ammo, morters,RPG's,,,ect. I was in Alpha company. The last 2 years the unit was there though, lots of paperwork got lost and I can't find the roster of some of the guys I was there with, I'd like to reconnect if some are still around but the names got lost in my head after 40 years and the rosters are MIA. Lots of people ya just never got to know there names,, just handles,,, mine was Mingo. I was pretty good buds with allot of the tower guys and some of the door gunners and crew chiefs there and I'd love to touch base with them if I could find them again. That would be Very cool, I think about them often.

Life is good though, I came back in one piece and didn't loose a single guy after I took over the squad and only 2 others got killed before that, several got wounded and shipped out though,,I just got lucky.

It didn't really bother me that much like it did some guys, I was there to do a job and I just did what I was asked to do, simple as that. I was born a deer hunter after all, and was a volunteer, and son/ grandson to many W1 and WW11 combat vets,so I knew exactly what to expect,,,,

and that's just the way I looked at it when I got there, deer hunting.

It was much easier that way, and if ya didn't think that way you'd go nuts dwelling on it otherwise."Coming down" while we were at China Beach or on R&R was the hard part, then you had the chance to think about it. Rest of the time I'd just stay drunk or high when I wasn't in the field. It was much better that way,,,over all. Pretty common actually. I was never like that before I went and haven't been like that sense, I just moved on and raised my family and lived my life. And every day I thank the Lord I survived and have just enjoyed life and family sense.

Thanks so very much for your service. I realize I get to do the stupid, inconsequential shit, that I take for granted every day because guys like you picked up a rifle and defended my freedom. I have passed on this knowledge to my kids and they, like me, thank veterans all the time, not just Veterans Day, or Memorial day, or the 4th of July, but all year round. It is amazing what the words Thank You and a hand shake can mean.

Fyred Up,,,,Thank You sir, that is always appreciated on my end. And I too never pass up the chance to thank this generation of vets either, I honestly feel they have it much worse than we ever did in Nam. There tours seem to never end,,ours were finite.

I'm very proud of my service and of my family's, it means allot to all of us in the family and our stories have been passed down for generations.

Actually, my son is the very first not to have served in the military sense before the American Revaluation in our family, pretty amassing actually. And something we're all very proud of as a family,,for sure. We go way back, even before the white man was here in this country. Even one of my great Grandfathers was a native Abinaki scout for the troops that served with Ethan Allan's Green Mountain Boys when they first came into the Champlain Valley and he is documented on a roster displayed at Ft Ticonderoga showing that fact,, pretty crazy to realize that my ancestors actually played a part in the founding of this nation and have been in every war sense,till now,,,,it's pretty mind boggling to me when I really stop and think about it. It gives me a great deal of pride in my family,,, for sure!!

It's all our responsibility as vets so the fallen of the past are never forgotten. Our freedoms just don't sprout out of the ground, there earned by sacrifice, sadly many in this generation don't seem to realize or understand that.

twa, if you saw the first Superman movie, you'll remember that Superman's father made some recordings for his son that he watched in the Fortress of Solitude. That's what I've been doing for my grandsons. I'm recording CDs with everything on them from how to sight-in a riflescope with one shot to stories of my dad and grandfather to an explanation and update of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. (Yea, the one that didn't happen)
This past Thanksgiving, we were going to be eating late so I went to the local Asian Buffet and had some sushi, hot&sour soup and hot tea. There were two couples eating there and the two men had matching caps. They had
KOREAN WAR
VETERAN
CHOSIN FROZEN
on the front of there caps. I picked up their check and when the waitress asked what she should say I told her to say that 'a younger old man said thanks'. I saw her again this past Friday and she told me it made both the gentlemen tear-up. Jeez I hate that.
Hunter